Holidays in America

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Holidays in America
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Important Holidays

• Christmas
• Thanksgiving
• New Years Day
• Independence Day
• Memorial Day
• Labor Day

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Christmas

• Dec. 25
• Families get together and exchange gifts
• Erect Christmas trees in homes and businesses.
• Religious meaning celebrates the birth of Jesus
  Christ
• Has become commercialized Santa Claus

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Decorating the tree is a family activity
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The decorated tree with presents underneath
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Exchanging gifts
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Christmas Dinner

• Traditional food was goose, but turkey is more
  common now.

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Santa Claus myth promoted by businesses to
stimulate buying
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Thanksgiving

• Fourth Thursday in November
• Families get together to visit and have a
  Thanksgiving dinner
• Traditional food is turkey
• Custom started with the pilgrims giving thanks
  for the harvest. The pilgrims were one of the
  first Europeans to come to America in 1620.

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New Years
Celebrated January 1. Everyone is optimistic that
the new year will be better than the old year.
Out with the old year
In with the new year
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New Years Eve
Stay up until midnight to welcome in the new
year. Often at a party with friends. At midnight
everyone shouts and makes noise, kisses the
person they brought to the party. Then everyone
sings Auld Lang Syne. Fireworks in Times Square
in New York.
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Independence Day
Always celebrated on July 4. July 4, 1776 was the
day the United States declared itself independent
from England.
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Independence Day
Independence day is celebrated with fireworks!
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Memorial Day

• Fourth Monday in May.
• Started in 1868 to honor soldiers who died in our
  Civil War.
• Now honors soldiers who died in all our wars.
• Memorial Day is the symbolic start of summer

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Labor Day

• First Monday in September.
• Started in New York City in 1882 to create a day
  off for the working citizens.
• Became a federal holiday in 1894. All states
  recognize it.
• Symbolic end of summer. Families often do things
  outdoors picnics, camping, etc.
• The next school year starts right after Labor Day.

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Class Exercise 1

• Working in groups of four
• Select one person to be the note taker
• Select one person to be the reporter
• Develop questions to ask me about American
  holidays

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Class Exercise 2

• Working in groups of four
• Select a different person to be the note taker
• Select another person to be the reporter
• List important Chinese holidays.
• Describe each holiday
• When is it?
• Why is it important?
• Tell what you do to celebrate the holiday.